Consolidated

B-24 Very Long Range Liberators at the Consolidated-Vultee Plant, Fort Worth, Texas in the foreground with the dark green and white paint scheme. To the rear of this front line are C-87 "Liberator Express Transports" in various assembly stages.

The Liberators made a great contribution to Allied victory in the Battle of the Atlantic against German U-boats. The decision to allocate some Liberator Is to Coastal Command in 1941 to patrol the eastern Atlantic Ocean produced immediate results. The Very Long Range (VLR) Liberators "almost doubled the reach of Britain's maritime reconnaissance force". This extended range enabled Coastal Command patrols to cover part of the mid-Atlantic gap, where U-boats had operated without risking being attacked and sunk by-Allied aircraft.